The Ansel Adams exhibition on view in the Theater Gallery of the Berkeley Art Museum reveals a surprising side of Adams's photography, with the emphasis on his work as a commercial photographer "hanging out his shingle" and trying to make a living. Adams's projects and assignments on view are evidence of a photographer supporting himself, his family, and his art through the craft of photography. The visitor to this exhibition will encounter images not readily associated with the familiar Ansel Adams as the supreme dramatist of mountains, rocks, trees, and the heavens. Among these is an early and stunning portfolio of eighteen "Parmelian" prints of the High Sierra issued by the Grabhorn Press in 1927 that forms part of The Bancroft Library's collection of fine printing and book arts. Even less well known are Adams's photographs of the Allied Arts Guild of California, commissioned by Garfield Merner, one of the founders of the Guild. Of more recent vintage are the original photographs made for the 1967 book Fiat Lux: The University of California from the collection of the University Archives. Adams's long association with the Sierra Club is documented in the extensive collection of photographs from the Sierra Club records and papers housed at the Bancroft, which includes albums Adams made for the club's High Country excursions as well as four albums of photographs printed by Adams from Joseph LeConte's original turn-of-the-century negatives. To complete the view of "another side of Ansel Adams," the exhibition includes a number of personal and candid portraits of Adams, as well as memorabilia, rare publications, and excerpts from an in-depth oral history transcript conducted by Bancroft's Regional Oral History Office in 1978. Through the juxtaposition of little-known early work, commissioned projects, and famous images, one can follow how Adams brought his mastery and signature style to bear on perhaps unfamiliar subjects and assignments. The visitor can decide whether Adams succeeded in molding even the most commonplace subjects to his own vision. The materials in the exhibition are drawn primarily from a number of University of California collections, including the University Archives, The Bancroft Library Pictorial Collection, and the Berkeley Art Museum. By showing work beyond Adams's famous landscapes, the University pays tribute to a California native son whose unique vision, photographic mastery, and innovative techniques greatly influented generations of photographers working in many genres.
